1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device comprising a memory for storing operational data of said device, and transfer means for transferring said data to an external device. The invention also relates to a method of transferring data from one device to a plurality of further devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
A device and a method as defined in the opening paragraph are disclosed in Patent Abstracts of Japan, Patent Application JP-A-10340123. The method is very useful for installing large numbers of identical devices, such as radio and television receivers, in, e.g., hotels or hospitals. The installation of a radio or television receiver is a cumbersome process. It requires, for example, all receivable channels to be stored in an ordered list, default values to be set for audio volume, picture brightness, etc. The prior-art method requires this operation to be done for only one receiver. The ordered list of channels and other preferences are then xe2x80x9cdownloadedxe2x80x9d from said receiver into a remote control unit. The data is subsequently xe2x80x9cuploadedxe2x80x9d from said remote control unit to the further receivers.
International Patent Application WO-97/36421 discloses a similar method. Uploading and downloading of the data are herein carried out via a special handheld storage device which is plugged into the television""s SCART plug.
International Patent Application WO 97/44897 and German Offenlegungsschrift DE-A-36 40 437 disclose wireless uploading but require the data to be manually entered in the remote control device.
It is an object of the invention to further improve and economize on the prior-art method. To this end, the device is characterized in that it comprises a light-emitting diode (LED) of a type which emits visible and infrared light, and control means being arranged to selectively control said LED to emit static light indicating device status information represented by said visible light, or modulate the light emitted by said LED with said stored data to transfer said stored data to said external device as a modulated infrared light stream.
The invention is based on the recognition that some LEDs, which are widely used in radio and television receivers for indicating status information such as on/off/standby, may also emit some infrared light. The energy of the emitted infrared light is low but sufficient to transmit data over a small distance. The data can thus be downloaded into an external portable device by holding said device close to the status LED. Once downloaded in the remote control unit, the data can be uploaded to other receivers in a well-known manner. A dedicated infrared light-emitting diode can be dispensed with, and standard provisions of television receivers (status LED and infrared receiver) are used. Not only does this save costs, it also has the advantage that the design of the receiver is not compromised.
An additional advantage of the invention is that stored data can easily be downloaded into an external service diagnostics device.
It is to be noted that Patent Abstracts of Japan, Patent Application JP-A-10303463, discloses a light-emitting source of a type which emits both visible and infrared light. The light source comprises individual LEDs for visible light and infrared light, and an optical guide which combines the two bundles of light.